The assets include about 2 million subscribers, which would slim the gap between Verizon and AT&T -- Verizon has about 84 million, while AT&T has about 77 million.

AT&T and Verizon have nearly 60% of the U.S. market, so any deal could face antitrust skepticism. And Alltel (and Verizon) use a different wireless technology than AT&T, so they'd eventually have to convert them.